Takes about 6 weeks !

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Originally Posted by Rodbender

Easy to do I was hoping for a you know maybe a hot pepper put in or ETC. that worked wonders not the regular Kraut

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We did that a couple of years ago , in a small batch in 1 qt. sealers, and used "devils tongue " VERY HOT peppers , didn't care for it.

But a recipe that we did like , from my parents is using large hot Hungarian Peppers , and stuffing them with sauerkraut, and pickling them in the normal way , they are excellent and go with any meat dish.

Re Devils Tongue Peppers;
Respected master-grower Jim Duffy puts the Devil's Tongue at abov500,000 Scoville Units in 2010 heat tests. All sorts of chilli information sources rate the Devil’s Tongue’s exhilarating feistiness: 325,000 Scoville Heat Units; “extremely hot” (above 300,000 Scoville Units); between 250,000-500,000 Scovilles, but Jim Duffy was involved in the first cultivation and testing of the world‘s hottest chilli, the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion Pepper (which we also stock, you lucky fire-heads) with Mexico State University's mighty Chili Pepper Institute - so I say he knows what he’s talking about.
This puts the scorching Devil’s Tongue pepper at around 7th place in the current jostling for the World’s Hottest Chilli title. Not for beginners! As Chileseeds puts it, “Hot, hot, hot. Fantastic flavour and great heat level”. If you can ride the heat, the accompanying adored flavour means Devil’s Tongue peppers are great eaten fresh in salsas and salads, or cooked into a hearty chilli or stew. They’re good for drying and pickling too.
And they’re even amazingly good for you! Devil’s Tongue peppers and other chillies stimulate the metabolism. They fight cancer. They help diabetics. They are vitamin-rich and contain immune-boosting antioxidants. They reduce cholesterol… click on the “Benefits of Peppers” header of our website for the comprehensive rundown of the amazing and reassuring things they can do for us mere mortals.

Maybe if we had used a milder hot pepper , like a Jalapeno , It is of mild to medium piquancy, 1,000 and 20,000 Scoville units , the kraut would have been better.

Well I have Scorpion and Scotch Bonnets

Carolina reaper pepper here if ya dare to put some in lol
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...2fb47d6975.jpg

28 or 29 days at room temp. you can tell its ready when the water drops!

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Originally Posted by fishfood

Carolina reaper pepper here if ya dare to put some in lol
http://images.tapatalk-cdn.com/15/11...2fb47d6975.jpg

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No thanks , once you get past the 100,000 Scoville units, the pepper is not enjoyable to eat , it is just plain raw burning heat.
I have a bunch of dried Scotch Bonnets/ Habanero's from 2 years ago that are used very sparingly.

I got away from doing it because of the smell throughout the house while fermenting.
So I did a batch at a chums house a few weeks ago and he uses a plastic garbage bag filled with enough water to cover the crock and seal it from air. Apparently we won't lose that one or 2 inches off the top and there is absolutely no smell.

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Originally Posted by sawbill

I got away from doing it because of the smell throughout the house while fermenting.
So I did a batch at a chums house a few weeks ago and he uses a plastic garbage bag filled with enough water to cover the crock and seal it from air. Apparently we won't lose that one or 2 inches off the top and there is absolutely no smell.

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No you won't have any smell at your house, but he will. While it is fermenting, the gases given off have to escape somewhere.

I was just talking to the guy and asked him how the stuff is going. He says its almost ready and there's absolutely no smell in the house. This is his second year doing it this way and says last year same thing--no smell. He figures the gasses are re-absorbed into the brew because it seems to ferment faster than the old way where it was weighted down with a wood cover.

Well , just a couple of days short of six weeks , couldn't wait any longer. I tried my sauerkraut, absolutely great , nice colour , taste is superb , sour and slightly salty, and has a nice crisp crunch to it.

Now to bottle some of it to give to friends and family , and I will package some and put it into the freezer as it takes up less space than bottles in a fridge.
Lots of good eating now as I have 50 lbs. of it , one of my uses will be "sauerkraut and sausage stuffed , roasted mallard ducks ", sauerkraut soup , roast pork and sauerkraut and many others .

I pulled ours about a week ago, at 6 weeks, it sat in the fridge until I could can it. The flavour is awesome and this first batch was done with the purple cabbage from our garden which is even better. I realized that I needed more brine as the liquid level was not high enough so we lost some in the jars. I am using 1.9L wide mouth mason jars as my crock with a jam jar holding down the cabbage and cheese cloth over the whole thing to allow it to breath but not allow bugs in. Ended up making 6.5L of canned kraut, boiled for 30min in a water bath canner to kill everything for long term storage, I know this hurts the beneficial bacteria a bit but I cannot store that much in a fridge for long periods.

I have another 4 heads of green cabbage cut up and put in the jars to ferment, more brine to top this batch off this time. I also plan to take some kale and ferment that as well, I have heard it is stronger but still really good and really good for you.